It hardly needs saying that a foundational axiom of intelligence work is not to get caught. Dead drops, cover names, codes, ciphers, brush passes and SDRs—all are designed to erase the footsteps of spies at work.

Except when it comes to Russia. President Vladimir Putin doesn’t seem to care so much. His GRU agents are the state-sponsored equivalent of Murder, Inc., the infamous gangsters who made a point of tattooing their victims with hot lead. Except with Putin, it’s mostly poison. He remains a KGB agent at heart, caring only that his guys don’t get caught on the way in or out. Once safely out, Putin couldn’t care less if the bread crumbs—or blood analysis—lead back to him, it seems.

“In our eyes it’s bad to be exposed, but in their eyes it’s not a big deal,”  says Dan Hoffman, a former longtime Russia hand for the CIA. “Why do they use poison when they could use a hammer?“ He answers the question himself: “They are sending a message.”

And the message is for Putin’s own security service…